Meitheal – it’s Irish for Meetings

The Irish tourism fair, known as Meitheal 2007 opened for business yesterday at the Royal Dublin Society (RDS) and presented by Tourism Ireland and Fáilte Ireland, the workshops are a serious, no nonsense business opportunity for the Irish tourism operators to showcase their wares to the world.

Margaret O’Reilly, Head of Communications from Tourism Ireland knows only too well the value of the massive investment her government-funded bureau places in Meitheal, telling me, “To understand Ireland, you have to see it and experience it for yourself”, casting her eye over the operation from the upper level of the RDS.

“That’s why this fair is so successful with Tourism Ireland’s mission being to market the destination internationally and bring in the buyers and we work closely with Fáilte Ireland to make sure we literally deliver the world to them as we promised.”

Hosted buyers from all over the globe are flown in for two days of intensive workshops and sellers at trade shows such as AIME, Dreamtime, Walkabout and Sydney on Sale would be shocked at the set up of Meitheal, because they are the ones that have to do all the work!

None of this lounging around your stand waiting for a buyer to turn up, with the buyers stationed at their allocated desk and every fifteen minutes, at the sounding of a bell, a new seller comes to them armed with a laptop, brochure and a well rehearsed sales presentation.

By the end of day two over 12,000 successful meetings will have been conducted……….that’s a heck of a lot of meitheals!

There are no elaborate stands, with the suppliers’ money better spent elsewhere on business development and direct marketing activity, making this a truly no-nonsense business event which is focused on face-to-face business building rather than putting on a show.

The wham is reserved for the gala when everyone gets a full frontal exposure of Ireland.

Paul O’Toole, the CEO of Tourism Ireland is a focused man, with tourism now a major contributing factor in the booming economic growth of his country, the survival and prosperity of every operator rests, in part, on his shoulders.

“Like all industries, ours faces many challenges and Meitheal addresses some of those challenges by providing a realistic and affordable marketing mechanism for our operators” he told me as he walked around the fair.

In tourism terms, many Australians have considered their country “flavour of the month” for too many years………….well let me tell you, the page on the international tourism calendar has been turned.

This is Ireland’s month, and it’s going to be a long one.

The interest in Ireland from all countries is as strong as the growing number of visitors and the economic boom times Ireland is currently enjoying will benefit the entire tourism industry and its growth will be unprecedented.

Judging from the attendance and genuine interest the world is showing in the place, it can only get  stronger.

A Report by Kevin Moloney, international travel writer and Travel Mole correspondent – on location in Ireland – brought to you by Emirates, Aer Lingus, Driveaway Holidays and Tourism Ireland.